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Raymond T. Smith Copyright 2002: All Rights Reserved Go To Site Map | RICE PRODUCTION IN AN INDO-GUYANESE COMMUNITY
Windsor Forest Sanatan Dharma Temple 1956 INTRODUCTIONThe following is the text of my paper "Economic Aspects of Rice Production in an East Indian Community in British Guiana," Social and Economic Studies, Volume 6, No. 4, December 1957. Although the methods of rice cultivation described in this paper are no longer practiced, the paper is of some historical importance because it provides a benchmark for measuring change. At the time this paper was written I was a member of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and although I was encouraged to write the paper by Dr. David Edwards, an agricultural economist, some of the other economists on the staff looked slightly askance at this trespassing on their territory by an anthropologist. Not too long afterwards Dr. C. O'Loughlin published her more comprehensive study of rice in British Guiana, "The Rice Sector in the Economy of British Guiana," Social and Economic Studies, Volume 7, No. 2, June 1958. Economic Aspects of Rice Production in an East Indian Community in British Guiana In 1954 British Guiana exported 36,609 tons of rice, valued at $9,266,645 (B.W.I.), the bulk of it being produced by small farmers. Another 52,791 tons was produced for local consumption. In terms of agricultural export value, rice is second in importance to sugar and its derivatives and the rice industry is the second largest employer of labour in the country. Although it falls far behind-sugar in both these respects, the industry is of great social significance precisely because it is organized on the basis of small farms rather than large, foreign-owned plantations. Rice was planted in British Guiana as long ago as the eighteenth century, mainly by groups of runaway slaves, so that even in those far-off days it might be said to have competed with the plantations for labour. Despite these early ventures, and later spasmodic attempts at cultivation by Chinese and East Indian immigrants during the nineteenth century, it was not until the end of the nineteenth century, when sufficient ex-indentured immigrants were available to take up surplus lands, that the industry became really established, and the sharp increase in demand during the first World War provided the incentive for its expansion. The area of land under rice jumped from approximately 2,500 acres in 1888 to 15,020 by 1903, and 61,200 by 1919. Exports of rice increased from about 5 tons in 1903 to 7,710 tons in 3913 to 14,367 tons in 1917. Exports fell off again sharply until 1927, since which time they have shown a progressive increase. As the International Bank Mission to British Guiana pointed out in their report (1953), rice cultivation has absorbed most of the excess manpower resulting from the increase of population and the rationalization of the sugar industry. Since rice cultivation mobilizes family labour for certain operations, and is in many cases a part-time activity, there are no reliable figures on the size or composition of the labour force employed. However, the Agricultural Census for 1954 estimated that 139,500 acres were planted for the 1954 autumn crop by some 22,200 farm operators. Many of these farmers would spend a part of their time working in other industries, particularly on the sugar estates, but despite this fact it is clear that rice production absorbs a large proportion of the total labour force of the country. The sugar industry employed an average of 22,054 field workers during 1954, the peak figure being 26,445 during the main harvest season in September. The rice industry certainly mobilized the labour of a larger number of persons than this if women and children are taken into account, but there is no ready means of comparing the number of man-days utilized by each industry. No other industry employs anything approaching the amount of labour used in the sugar and rice industries. The population of British Guiana has been built up by successive waves of immigrants: Europeans, most of whom came originally as planters and then later as government officials and technicians; Africans, who were imported as chattel slaves to provide plantation labour; Portuguese, Chinese and East Indians, brought in as indentured labourers after the abolition of slavery to supplement the plantation labour force. A number of aboriginal Indians still survive in British Guiana’s hinterland. The following table shows the racial composition of the population of British Guiana as estimated at Dec. 31st, 1955.
East Indians now constitute the largest single racial group in the country and are still concentrated in agriculture, forming the majority of sugar workers and rice farmers. Rice is commonly thought of as an East Indian crop. Though some Negroes do cultivate it, they tend not to work in such close family teams, nor to use such intensive methods of cultivation. In terms of land utilization rice is planted on 139,500 acres as compared with 86,600 acres planted in sugar cane, 31,500 acres under coconuts, and 36,500 acres planted in other crops (mainly provisions, coffee, cocoa, citrus, and corn). Although rice occupies the largest area of land, it is not necessarily the best land, and little of it is as well drained and irrigated as the land under sugar cane. Sugar plantations vary in size from 350 to 8,600 acres, whereas rice is essentially a small farmer’s crop, the average size of holding being about 6 acres. The community discussed in this paper lies on the West Coast of Demerara, and is typical of one type of rice-producing community; that type which has grown up on abandoned sugar estates. Like most of the Demerara farming areas it enjoys good drainage and irrigation facilities and excellent sea-defences and in these respects it differs from many areas in Berbice and Essequibo. In autumn 1953, 5,600 farm operators produced 592,000 bags of padi on 39,800 acres of seeded land in Demerara. Comparable figures for Berbice and Essequibo are given below.
Windsor Forest, the district with which we shall be dealing, has a total population of approximately 2,350 persons, predominantly of East Indian descent, and members of this population cultivated about 1,470 acres for the autumn crop of 1956.(1) This is approximately 4 per cent of the total area under rice in Demerara. Though this figure is merely a rough estimate it will suffice to indicate the fact that this area is one of the most important in Demerara so far as rice cultivation is concerned, and represents a fair sample of Demerara rice farmers.
LAND TENURE AND LAND USE The area for which detailed information is available, Windsor Forest, is really the heart of a more extensive community comprising the three estates of Windsor Forest, La Jalousie and Ruimzight. However, there is some social differentiation between the inhabitants of these three contiguous estates, and it is quite convenient to discuss Windsor Forest alone. Prior to 1908 Windsor Forest was a sugar estate owned by a British company, and having a resident labouring population of East Indian immigrants, a few Chinese, most of whom had drifted into shopkeeping, some Negroes, and a small European managerial staff. Repeated inundation by the sea led the company to abandon its cultivation, and after a few pieces of land in the dwelling area had been sold or given to some of the residents, the government finally acquired the estate at execution sale in order to protect its financial interest in certain outstanding debts for sea defence rates. Meanwhile the residents had been left to their own devices, and had eked out a livelihood by reaping the ratoon canes and selling them to neighbouring Plantation Versailles, or by levelling the canefields and planting rice. Eventually the government decided to convert the estate into a government land settlement, along with the adjoining estate, La Jalousie, which had gone through a similar process. The lands were surveyed and offered to the residents in small lots, either for outright purchase over a number of years, or on long-term leases. Almost without exception the residents decided to lease the farm lands and purchase their house lots, a pattern which has persisted up to the present. The original leases stipulated a fixed rental of $6.00 (In 1956 One dollar BWI equals 4s/2d or approximately 55 cents US) per acre per annum, inclusive of all maintenance charges, drainage rates and sea-defence rates, and were issued for a period of 99 years, with no provision for the revision of rentals. This has resulted in a situation where government is losing large sums of money annually because the rentals can no longer cover the greatly increased costs of maintenance. The estate is at present divided into five main sections. The dwelling area, as in most Guianese coastal settlements, is located just behind the sea wall, and is a tightly packed conglomeration of some 340 houses and several old barrack blocks, occupying 78 acres of land. Behind this runs the railway line, and beyond that stretches the cultivation area, broken up by a network of drainage and irrigation canals. 241 acres are set aside as a communal pasture, a charge of 24 cents per head per month being levied as agistment fee (this was recently increased to 75 cents). A communal cattle byre was started some years ago, and 40 acres of land are set aside as fodder plots for stall feeding. This byre is not fully utilized, nor are most of the fodder plots carefully cultivated. Whilst most farmers cut wild grass to stall-feed animals (often kept in the house yard), few are willing to go to the trouble and expense of actually cultivating grass. Rice is planted on 422.75 acres, whilst two small blocks of 12.099 acres and 34.995 acres, are reserved for the cultivation of sugar cane and "ground provisions." Some permanent tree crops may also be planted on these lands. No rotation of crops is practiced and each block of land has been used for the same purpose for the past 40-50 years. Since the contiguous estates of Windsor Forest and La Jalousie are in many respects regarded as one unit, and since many residents of Windsor Forest lease lands at La Jalousie, any overall picture of the economic life of Windsor Forest must take the facilities of La Jalousie into account. It must also take account of the fact that farmers from Windsor Forest rent additional lands on private estates along the West Coast of Demerara, since the rice lands in Windsor Forest itself account for less than one-third of all rice lands cultivated by Windsor Forest farmers. From an administrative point of view Windsor Forest and La Jalousie form a part of the "Government Estates—West Demerara" which include Plantation Hague, a quite separate unit located some miles from the other two. A government-appointed superintendent is responsible for the running of all three, and he is assisted by a team of clerks, rangers and watchmen. The records for each unit are kept separately, so that we may ignore Plantation Hague for the purposes of this discussion. In theory each occupier of a plot of farm land should hold a 99-year lease issued by the government. In practice there has been a good deal of buying and selling of rights, "exchanging" of pieces of land, inheritance and gifts of rights without proper notification and transfer of leases. Buying and selling of rights in land is common, and a man can obtain from $250 to $400 for the rights in one acre of rice land. This purchase price includes, of course, not only the right to cultivate the land, but also the advantages of what amounts to a government subsidy, since the annual rental of $6.00 cannot cover all the costs of water services and administration. The practice of exchanging plots of land is of some interest, since such exchanges are generally made with a view to consolidating holdings. Whilst it is true that the rapid increase in population leads to some degree of fragmentation, this contrary process of consolidation must be taken into account. The process of passing land from one generation to another is a complicated one. Each farmer generally has rights in a collection of parcels of land; perhaps three or four acres of rice land in two separate blocks in Windsor Forest, another two acres of rice land rented from a private landlord further down the coast, an acre of sugar cane and provisions at the back of Windsor Forest, and a house lot in the dwelling area. As his sons mature they begin to work with him on the farm, and with more man-power available, he will probably try to extend his holdings by purchasing leases to land wherever he can. One son may be sent to high school with the idea of getting a job in the civil service or business. Before each son reaches the age of 25 years or so, he will expect to marry, and his wife will come to live in the parental home for the first year or two. As soon as possible (except in the case of the youngest son), his father will help him to build his own house, probably on the same lot if there is space, and will give him his "share" of the patrimonial land. This may be only one or two acres, and the son will have to try to increase his holdings by acquiring more pieces for himself if he is able. Daughters receive their "share" of the patrimony in the form of a dowry when they marry. Any property which the father may have left after setting up his sons is generally bequeathed by will, and if the youngest son has stayed on with his parents he will be an obvious beneficiary. Not all sons follow their fathers into farming. An increasing number of young men are going to high school and then seeking employment in Georgetown. Others become full-time labourers, and some take labouring jobs whilst retaining a small area of land for rice farming. In one case known to the author, two brothers who had inherited a few cattle, a three acre rice farm and which they worked jointly, decided that if either of them were to be able to marry, the other one would have to emigrate. Consequently they saved enough money for one of them to go to England, leaving the other in sole possession of the farm. This case illustrates the point that people do not break down holdings into ever smaller units, because they are aware of the fact that there is a certain minimum size beyond which a farm cannot provide a worthwhile return. Attitudes such as this are possible because there has been a continuous expansion of the area under cultivation in adjoining areas. Almost all the farm land in Windsor Forest and La Jalousie is utilized, and rice cultivation is the focus of attention. Two crops are cultivated each year and it is indicative of the high fertility of the soil that yields remain reasonably high despite the absence of manuring. Cattle may be turned loose in the fields after the harvest, but this cannot result in any adequate degree of natural manuring. Most farmers keep one or two milch cows as well as working oxen, and these are grazed on the communal pasture, or hand-fed with cut grass. The pasture facilities are inadequate for the combined Windsor Forest-La Jalousie cattle population of approximately 1,500 head, there being only about 470 acres of poor quality grass-lands available between the two estates. A suggestion that some of this communal pasture should be divided up into individual plots for intensive cultivation of fodder, was vigorously resisted on the grounds that any resident should have the opportunity to keep a cow and have access to grazing facilities. Farmers were also sceptical of the possibility of finding time to cultivate and cut grass for stock feeding. The lands rented by Windsor Forest farmers in other parts of the coast are used almost exclusively for rice cultivation. They are generally rented on a year to year basis, and the recent introduction of the Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Ordinance, 1956 has resulted in a greater security for the tenant farmer as well as in some standardization of rentals. The most important provisions of this Ordinance are given in the Appendix.
LABOUR
Since no detailed survey was carried out to ascertain the exact amount of labour expended on rice cultivation in Windsor Forest, it will be necessary to use rough estimates. First we may examine the nature of the available labour force. Windsor Forest has a total population of about 2,350 of which approximately 250 are Negroes, 60 Chinese, and 2,040 East Indians. Only a few Negroes cultivate rice lands, but probably about 100 are employed during the harvesting season as casual labourers. The majority of the Chinese are either businessmen or farm managers, only one or two of the younger men actually working on the land. Amongst the East Indians there are 928 farmers who cultivate lands in the area under consideration, operating between them some 1,470 acres for the 1956 autumn crop. The distribution of size of total holdings amongst these farmers is shown in Table 3. Apart from some 60 persons who have full-time occupations other than farming (plus their families), most of the children under about 12 years of age and old people no longer able to work, the bulk of the Indian population takes part in the process of cultivation in some way or another. At periods of peak activity, particularly harvesting, a few people from outside the community may be employed. It would be reasonable, therefore, to estimate that approximately 1,000 individuals (say 400 men, 400 women and 200 children over 12 years and under 16 years) are available for work on these rice farms at some time or other.
Approaching the problem from a rather different angle, and using the estimate of labour input required for cultivating one acre of rice as set out below, we may make a rough estimate of the man-hours expended on the cultivation of the lands with which we are dealing. From the time the land is prepared to the time the padi is delivered to the factory, some 54,630 man-hours will have been expended on the 1,470 acres in the sample.(1) Factory operations prior to delivery of the rice at the railway station bond will involve a further 8,820 man-hours, assuming an average yield of 20 bags of padi per acre. Labour Involved in the Production of Rice from one Acre The following estimates (Table 4) are of the average amount of labour expended on the cultivation of one acre of rice land, and the subsequent milling operations. A "day" is taken as the normal working day which will average about eight hours. Some of the operations in transplanting and reaping are carried out by women who, on these tasks, can probably do as much work as men. However, women return home earlier than men as a rule, as they must cook the evening meal. Their working day is therefore a little shorter, but on average this is balanced by men who sometimes work more than eight hours.
*These estimates of labour requirements are based upon the author’s observation, and upon figures extracted from a survey carried out in the area in 1954 by the Dept. of Agriculture. A final point must be made regarding the labour force and its organization. It has already been pointed out that the land under discussion is operated by small farmers who themselves carry out most of the operations involved. They are assisted by their families, in almost every case. Sons who have left school, and are still living in their father’s home, work under their father’s direction on the exclusively male operations of ploughing, raking, preparing seed beds, threshing, etc. Wives, wives of sons living in the parental home, and unmarried daughters work on transplanting seedlings and reaping. For both male and female tasks it is customary for groups of workers to cooperate by working on each other’s land in turn. A team of women, who may have kinship ties or merely be friends or neighbours, will work together on transplanting, going from one farm to another. They keep a check of how many days’ work they owe each other and if the account does not balance it may be settled by a cash payment. The same method may be used for ploughing, raking, reaping, threshing, and even work connected with milling. Side by side with this system of labour exchange, a straight wage labour system exists, and of a given group of people working in a particular field some may be working on an exchange basis whilst others are working solely for a cash wage. Most wage labour is paid on a task basis, though for some operations a daily rate is used (see below). Certain social factors may intervene to influence the amount of time or number of persons available for work on the rice cultivation. In recent years Indians have come to value formal education for their children more highly, and whilst children may be kept from school to help with certain operations on the rice farm, practices in this respect are probably changing. Since most Indians are not Christians, Sunday is regarded as a normal working day, but against this must be set the fact that Muslims are expected to attend the mosque on Fridays, and various Hindu domestic rituals or Hindu and Muslim festivals may divert farmers from their fields. However, at periods of peak activity there is no doubt that for most farmers and their families, the requirements of the farm are placed above the dictates of religious observance. The latter are either modified, attenuated or omitted. Serious limitations are imposed on the amount of time women can spend in the fields, because of their domestic duties. Even at the peak periods of female task, women must return home in the early afternoon to prepare food for the evening meal and attend to other domestic duties. In the above discussion of labour no mention has been made of the labour used for the maintenance of drainage and irrigation works, and of sea-defence. These tasks are carried out by central government agencies, and to a smaller extent by the land settlement rangers, and their costs are covered by special rates. These rates are normally included in the rental charges for rice lands. CAPITAL EMPLOYED The most important capital asset of the rice farmer is the land itself, and its value varies according to its location, soil-type, and drainage facilities. It has already been mentioned that farmers in Windsor Forest will pay from $250 to $400 for the right to lease one acre of rice land in the Land Settlement area. The Agricultural Census of 1952 estimated an average land value in the Windsor Forest area of $464, and this agrees substantially with the present situation. Practically all the lands cultivated by Windsor Forest farmers are rented either from private landlords, or from Government, but if rights to lease are transferable for a cash sum, then the possession of a lease is a part of the fixed capital of the farmer. However, when we are considering the capital employed, it is the value of the land itself we must take into account. The actual rents then constitute part of the farmer’s annual outgoings. These rents now vary from $6.00 per acre per annum in the Land Settlement area to about $20.00 per acre per annum for the best-drained lands on private estates. The average annual outgoings in rental charges for rice farmers in the Windsor Forest group amount to approximately $67.00 (assuming that the average charge for rented lands off the Land Settlements is $18.00 per annum per acre). There are few buildings erected on farm lands, mainly because all farmers live in the "dwelling area" where they have their houses, and keep small stock. They may also have a small cattle-pen on the house lot, and implements will be stored in or underneath the house itself. The only buildings erected on the edge of the rice lands are small shelters with thatched or corrugated iron roofs, which are used mainly during the harvest season as temporary storage for padi. They may also be used for the actual threshing. Oxen are the chief source of power for ploughing, short haulage, harrowing, and threshing, and the majority of farmers own at least one pair. A survey carried out in 1953 showed that there were 472 steers owned by residents of Windsor Forest. There are seven tractors in Windsor Forest, most of them owned by farmers working more than twelve acres of land. These are available to a limited number of farmers for hire-ploughing after their owners have finished their own work, but the nature of the soil is such that after heavy rain the tractors are unable to work satisfactorily, and oxen have to be used. This means that the tractor owners take advantage of suitable weather conditions to do their own work, and even they may have to fall back on oxen if the dry spell does not last long enough. As Huggins pointed out as long ago as 1941(Huggins 1941), there is a close relationship between the acreage a farmer can handle and the number of oxen he possesses. However, this is not an unqualified relationship. Farmers possessing no oxen at all can hire them for ploughing, harrowing and threshing, or alternatively hire a tractor. Perhaps the main problem facing most farmers is the difficulty of acquiring more lands, now that the prevailing market prices for rice make it worth his while to cultivate more. If he can get the land, the farmer will almost certainly be able to raise the capital to purchase oxen or engage a tractor to plough for him. Conditions have changed a good deal since 1941, when there was a widespread feeling that it was unprofitable to cultivate more land than could be worked by the farmer and his family. Under such conditions the number of oxen available to a farmer must have had a decided effect on the amount of land he could profitably work. With present-day prices it has become profitable for the farmer to pay for labour, and the presence of seven tractors in the village as against none in 1939, is an indication of the fact that farmers will procure power if they have the land, plus customers to hire their tractor. The capital value of implements used in rice cultivation is generally small. Light hand-ploughs, drawn by oxen, are most frequently used, and the cost of these is low. Harrows are made from a long plank studded with large nails, and the farmer stands on this as it is drawn across the field by oxen. There are seven tractors in the village, most of them light Fergusons costing about $3,500 each including a mould-board plough. These can be bought on hire-purchase and are operated on duty-free gasoline. They are used almost exclusively for ploughing, but occasionally a farmer may be seen threshing his padi by driving over the straw with a tractor instead of using bulls to tread out the grain. One farmer in Windsor Forest owns a combine harvester, but he uses it on a block of 74 acres which he cultivates outside Windsor Forest. Cutlasses, forks and sickles are normal equipment in most households, the sickles being the only hand implement used in reaping. There are a large number of flat-bottomed boats in the village which are used for transporting padi from the backlands to the factory. Not every farmer owns a boat, but there are sufficient to transport all the padi produced. The boats are roughly and simply constructed, but they serve their purpose adequately. Similarly many farmers own a rough flat-bottomed sled for dragging seedlings or sheaves of padi across the fields. Another important element in the "capital employed" category is the farmer’s skill and knowledge. For the type of cultivation involved, the farmer’s knowledge and skill is generally adequate, and most farmers realize that any radical change in present methods of production would involve extensive reorganization. If large-scale mechanization were to be feasible it is probable that either each farmer’s acreage would have to be increased or some form of co-operative enterprise would be necessary. Present intensive methods of hand cultivation on small acreages give a maximum return though they use a good deal of labour. There may eventually be room for improvement in yields by using new varieties of padi or by the application of fertilizer, and farmers do not oppose innovations when they are convinced of their value. The planting of pure line seed propagated by the Department of Agriculture has been widely adopted. The application of fertilizer to the coastal clay soils has not been shown to produce significantly higher yields, but some Windsor Forest farmers do use fertilizer for garden crops, and at least one store in the village stocks and sells it.
OPERATIONS IN CULTIVATION AND THE COSTS OF PRODUCTION In this section the various processes involved in the production of rice from one acre of land are analysed, and an estimate, based on figures collected by the author in 1956, is given of the costs involved. Other costs such as rent and seed are also given. All rates for labour and services are those prevailing for the 1956 autumn crop. The processes and costs outlined below require some explanation. The costs of production have been calculated on the basis of the maximum rates a farmer would have to pay for labour if he did none of the work himself. Whilst some men asked for, and received, up to $2.50 per day for agricultural work in 1956, other farmers were able to hire labourers for as little as $2.00 per day. This means that some of the labour costs could be scaled down. In practice, the bulk of the work is performed by the farmer himself, assisted by members of his family, often co-operating on a labour exchange basis with other farmers. Whenever a "day’s labour" is referred to it means a working day of approximately eight hours. The procedure of presenting the costs of the various operations in this way is rather different from the usual method of discounting the farmer’s own labour. However it is assumed that this method of presentation is useful in that it can be applied to any particular case and the farmer’s own labour deducted if necessary.
Operation Estimated Cost Dollars (B.W.I.)
There are two main tasks involved here:
(a) Porterage in the factory. 1.00
Total costs of Production $144.38
Retu rns.Farmers in the Windsor Forest area usually produce good grades of rice, and it is not unreasonable for a man to expect to get a "Super" grading for his ten bags of good rice. The farmer is paid $17.85 per bag for "Super" grade and $8.40 per bag for "Broken’. On a yield of ten bags of "Super" and one bag of "Broken" he would receive $186.90 186.90 Surplus
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE RICE FARMER So far we have discussed only the overall characteristics of the rice-farming sector of the village economy, without focusing attention on the total activities of the individual rice farmer, and the internal economy of his domestic unit. It is not intended to discuss this question in any detail here, but some brief description is necessary. The modal size of farmers holdings cultivated in rice for the group we are discussing is five to six acres, and the average Indian household in Windsor Forest contains approximately six persons. Larger households generally cultivate more rice land primarily because more labour is likely to be available. In such an average household the farmer and his family may be expected to produce approximately 170 bags of padi if they plant two crops in one year. Provided he has the necessary oxen, and perhaps an adolescent son and daughter as well as his wife to help him, he will need to employ little outside labour if he devotes most of his time to rice work. From the 170 bags of padi produced about 30 bags will be retained for seed, stock-feed and for milling into rice for home consumption. The remaining 150 bags can be expected to yield 75 bags of good quality rice and about 10 bags of "broken" which will sell to the Rice Marketing Board for approximately $1,400 (more or less according to the grades he receives). From this amount his imputed costs would be $866.20 according to the scale of costs we have outlined, but since he and his family supply most of the labour, his actual out-of-pocket expenses should amount to about $265.68 for milling, porterage, transport costs, rent, etc. This would leave him with approximately $1,134 out of which he must meet all the depreciation costs on his implements, oxen, buildings, etc., and maintain himself and his family. He may also have to pay interest on loans from the Co-operative Credit Bank, or from money-lenders. Our average rice farmer would almost certainly have other sources of income. He would probably have a cow or two from which he would be able to sell milk and he may keep small stock such as goats, sheep or poultry. A kitchen garden, and a small provision farm would yield fresh vegetables for home consumption, and perhaps a small surplus for sale. He may have a plot of sugar cane which yields a couple of hundred dollars or so. Most important of all, though, he will probably be able to sell his labour when he is not too busy on the farm, either to a neighbouring sugar plantation, or to the Public Works Department. None of the women folk of the household will normally work for wages. They help with the family cultivation and do exchange work on the rice lands of friends and kin, but apart from this their work is in the home. A good wife will be able to sew, at least the children’s clothes, as well as cook, wash and keep the home scrupulously clean. She will not engage in such common West Indian occupations as domestic service or taking in washing for other people; partly because of the prevailing pattern of family life and paternal authority, partly because such occupations are traditionally degrading amongst Indians. Household expenditure is likely to be carefully considered and well planned. Purchases of shop food such as spices, potatoes, flour, onions, sugar, salt, cooking oil, ghee, garlic, and split peas will form the main item in the family budget, along with necessities such as soap and kerosene for lighting. Clothing is a major item, but most Indians wear simple garments except for very special occasions; cotton dresses and a head-tie for women, and cotton trousers and a loose shirt or kurta for the men. Suits of heavy material and neckties are becoming more common for special occasions such as weddings, and Indian women in the villages buy quite expensive and colourful materials for dresses for special occasions. Shoes are universally worn for visits to town and for other occasions when it is necessary to be well-dressed. Apart from expenditure on these main items, large sums will have to be spent on the marriage of daughters, including the provision of a dowry; on regular ritual events; on birth and funeral ceremonies, and perhaps on the education of a son who, it is hoped, will become a white-collar worker or even enter a profession. Money will have to be saved for the repair or rebuilding of the house, and for the purchase of simple furnishings. It is clear that capital for the purchase of more land or for setting up sons with their own home and farm is only accumulated as the result of considerable thrift and careful housekeeping. These virtues are certainly possessed by many Indian rice farmers, but they cannot perform the miracles popularly ascribed to them by other members of the Guianese population, and the typical picture of the Indian farmer as a miserly individual with a large hidden crock of gold is a totally erroneous one.
MILLING The milling facilities available to farmers in the Windsor Forest area, and in most of the coastal rice areas, are quite primitive. Mr. Harold Parker in his Report on Rice Milling in British Guiana (Parker 1939) wrote:
Since that time three large mills of the type he recommended have been established in the country, but the bulk of rice is still being milled in small hullers with no attempt at "pearling" or "polishing" or systematic attempt at recovery of by-products. There are nine mills in Windsor Forest alone and several more nearby. Windsor Forest farmers stoutly maintain that they prefer dealing with small mills; they say that the small hullers produce better grades of rice with a smaller percentage of broken grains and that the large mills are inefficiently managed, and being government-sponsored carry far too many overhead costs. Mr. Parker remarked upon the high quality of British Guiana padi, and was of the opinion that this is the only reason the small mills are able to produce marketable grades of rice. Whatever their short-comings, and they are many, the small mills are coping with the demands made upon them and, by virtue of the fact that they do not go in for "pearling" and "polishing", they produce a more nutritious type of rice. (This is offset to some extent by the common culinary practice of straining the cooked rice and throwing away the vitamin-rich water). Another disadvantage of large mills is that they require a much higher level of managerial skill, and their establishment on a general scale would almost certainly take milling out of the hands of the present class of millers. It may even necessitate the importation of a managerial group with al1 the political implications that would involve. Any plans for improvement in milling facilities should certainly try to strike a balance between technical requirements and the availability and development of managerial skills amongst those already in the industry. It has already been mentioned that in Windsor Forest alone there are no less than nine mills in operation. Each consists of "a concrete" on which padi is dried, a bond usually constructed of corrugated iron, which houses the huller and its driving engine (normally a diesel), a boiler, a couple of concrete tanks in which padi is soaked, and a pump. $20,000 would be a high estimate for the total value of the average small mill equipped with one huller, and many would be worth less than half of that at the present time. From the miller’s point of view, so long as he can get sufficient patronage, his business is a fairly secure one today. He must lay out a fair amount of capital to cover labour costs, fuel, advances to farmers, etc., but its return is secure and he need not fear an accumulation of bad debts. This is because the Rice Marketing Board deducts the miller’s charges from the amount paid to the farmer for rice received, and sends it direct to the miller. Once the farmer has lodged his padi with the miller, the miller lays out al1 the cash necessary for labour at the mill, for bags and even transport costs. He will also advance cash to the farmer, interest-free, and the farmer signs the miller’s account which is sent off to the Rice Marketing Board. On receipt of the farmer’s rice, the Board grades each bag and calculates the total amount due to the farmer. The amount of the miller’s account is then deducted and the cheque for the balance sent to the farmer. The only costs the miller must bear himself are the maintenance costs on his plant, fuel and lubricants, the labour of one man to feed the huller, and managerial costs (which cannot be very high for a small mill). With so many mills in Windsor Forest there is a certain amount of competition, and a few mills were willing to mill for $1.00 per bag in 1956 rather than the more general $1.20. The fact that advances are made interest-free to farmers is another result of competition. The amount of work a mill can handle is largely determined by the size of its "concrete", which determines the amount of padi that can be "soaked" at one time. Millers refer to their seasonal or annual business as so many "soaks." One particularly successful mill on the West Coast Demerara with a "concrete" capable of drying enough padi to make sixty bags of rice at each "soak," averages fifty soaks for the autumn crop and twenty-five for the spring. This mill clears a profit of about $4,000 each year, for nine months intensive working. Not many of the Windsor Forest mills approach this standard, and the least successful probably make less than a quarter of that amount. Credit and Financing Such credit facilities as are available to the rice farmer are probably adequate to his needs for financing rice cultivation, and it is probable that only a very small proportion of loans actually goes into financing farm operations. The Windsor Forest Co-operative Credit Bank makes short-term crop loans to farmers, and some of this money is used to provide seed and labour for planting. This enables the farmer to use some of his accumulated income from the last crop for subsistence for himself and his family. Some part of such loans almost certainly goes into house construction or repairs, whilst some may be used to buy oxen. It is doubtful whether the provision of these loans at low interest really encourages increased capital investment in agriculture, or leads to increased yields. If more adequate agricultural extension services were available it would be desirable to offer more closely supervised credit, and to tie it to the provision of better seed, fertilizer or livestock improvement. One advantage of the present arrangements is that farmers are relieved of the necessity to borrow from money lenders at exorbitant rates of interest. Cash advances from millers serve as a stop-gap between harvest and receipt of a cheque from the Rice Marketing Board, and are used mainly for domestic consumption or to finance weddings, etc. There are a large number of groceries and stores in Windsor Forest, all of which extend credit to regular customers, and shop debts are paid off "after crop." Shopkeepers cannot survive unless they are prepared to carry a large sum in outstanding debts, and this. usually exceeds their own indebtedness to wholesalers. Despite all this there has been an increase in the prosperity of the area in recent years, and this is partly reflected in the number of new houses which have been built. Indian farmers also invest a certain amount of money in gold jewellery for their women-folk, particularly in the form of gifts to brides. Savings may be in the form of cattle, jewellery, or be lodged in the Post Office Savings Bank, to be drawn upon in emergencies, though the level of savings amongst Indian rice farmers is less than it is popularly supposed to be. Purchases of consumer goods such as radios, bicycles and pressure lanterns are fairly high, and 140 homes in Windsor Forest possess sewing machines. Marketing The marketing of all rice in British Guiana (apart from a small quantity which the grower is allowed to retain for home consumption) is controlled by the British Guiana Rice Marketing Board, a statutory body. As we have seen, the normal practice in the Windsor Forest area is for farmers to sell their milled rice direct to the Board. In other parts of the country some farmers may sell padi to the mill, but the miller must in turn sell his rice to the Board. The Board blends, and to a small extent packages, the rice and re-sells it, either on the local market or to foreign buyers. The vast bulk of all exports is bought by other British West Indian territories at prices which are negotiated periodically. Farmers complain that the Marketing Board down-grades their rice, but there seems to be little substance in these claims. It is rather a part of the farmer’s general antipathy towards a government-sponsored marketing organization which the farmer feels is creaming off some of the profits which are rightly his and using them to support what appears to be an over-paid managerial staff. Agitation at various levels is directed towards giving farmers’ representatives a greater voice in the management of the Board or converting it into a co-operative. One suspects that even if the latter course were adopted the conflict between the farmer and the paid administrative staff would still exist. This is not to say that there may not be room for improvement or increased efficiency, but any marketing organization would have to enjoy some degree of autonomy as against the farmer’s claim for a bigger and bigger share of profits. The provision of reserve funds and research funds is essential, though the farmer may not always agree. Conclusion For the past few years prosperity has been increasing amongst Windsor Forest rice farmers. Rising prices for rice, coupled with an expansion of the area under cultivation, particularly on private estates lower down the coast, has enabled real incomes to keep up with, and slightly overtake, a rising cost-of-living and a rapidly increasing population. The outlook for the future is not so encouraging. It does not appear that the upward trend in prices is likely to continue at its past rate, and there is no indication of a rapid expansion, either in the area of land under cultivation or in any other sector of the economy. Even if it were possible to bring about significant increases in yields per acre, it is clear that a large proportion of the next generation of adults will either have to turn to some crop which gives a higher return from a smaller area of land, or leave the district, or endure a sharp drop in the present standard of living. From the figures given in this paper one can see that such a drop must result in real hardship. Guianese peasant farming communities such as Windsor Forest tend to be heavily dependent upon the production of cash crops to provide money for what are felt to be essential consumer goods and services. Even though garden crops may be grown for home consumption the villagers are so firmly enmeshed in a cash economy that they must produce crops for sale or find wage work of some kind. British Guiana’s rice farmers have developed their industry with a minimum of assistance and no subsidization, mainly to meet the demands of the West Indian market. Their future prosperity is largely dependent upon British Guiana’s ability to keep that market, which is in turn dependent not only upon efficient and economical methods of production, but also upon political factors and British Guiana’s place in an emerging federal economic policy. Even if that market is guaranteed, certain basic problems in the organization of the industry remain. One of the most fundamental of these is the reconciliation of production for a limited market with an optimum-size farming unit, which may eventually require a reduction in the number of farmers engaged in rice production, or a greater diversification of individual farmer’s crops. Whilst this paper has not attempted to discuss these wider issues it is hoped that the materials presented here may be of interest to those engaged in planning federal economic policy, to those concerned with British Guiana’s agricultural and Land Settlement programmes as well as to students of comparative economies and sociology.
Appendix Main Provisions of the Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Ordinance, 1956 This Ordinance provides for the establishment of a number of assessment committees to cover the coastal areas of the colony, the powers and duties of such committees to be as follows:
28. A tenant may terminate his agreement of tenancy relating to rice land by giving to the landlord not less than six months notice in writing expiring on the thirtieth day of April in any year. 29. (1) A landlord may apply to the assessment committee for the possession of any holding to which this Ordinance applies.
The Ordinance lays down the maximum basic rental per acre which may be charged for rice lands according to the locality of the land and the soil type. These basic charges vary from $12.00 per acre for clay soil lands on the islands of Wakenaam and Leguan to $2.50 per acre for toxic soil lands in various parts of the colony. Certain additions to this basic rent are permitted as follows:
Permitted Estate charges are graded according to the following scheme: Type of Estate Rate per acre
Footnotes (1) If anything this figure is too low, since a few farmers have interests in land in other parts of the colony which did not fall within the scope of the survey. (2) This is assuming that 470 acres are ploughed by tractor and the rest by oxen, though this is merely a reasonable guess. It also assumes that all the rice is cut by hand, though one farmer owns a combine harvester for use on his 74 acre farm. However, for the autumn 1956 crop he was unable to use the combine on most of the crop owing to unfavourable weather conditions. (3) A sum should properly be deducted from this amount of surplus to represent interest on capital employed, but this is difficult to calculate accurately, and in any case would be quite small. References
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